The rise of extremism

There hasn't been a war between the major powers of Europe
since the end of World War II nearly 70 years ago. The EU is definitely
responsible for that, which is why it was awarded this year's Nobel
Peace Prize. Economic chaos in the 1920s and '30s allowed extremist
groups to seize power and eventually led to World War II. Bill McBride,
who writes the blog CalculatedRisk, sees some unnerving similarities in what is happening today.

"You
can't keep people in recession year after year like this," says
McBride. "In Greece and Spain the unemployment rate for 18-to-34 year
olds is over 50 percent. The last thing you want is a lot of 18-to-34
year olds sitting around with nothing to do."

This is a very
similar situation to the one Europe confronted in the 1930s when people
lost faith in their governments and turned to extremist groups for
answers. McBride points to Greece, where the far-right Golden Dawn and
Coalition of the Radical Left parties have both been gaining power.

"Look at Golden Dawn -- a year ago no one outside of Greece had heard
of them. Inside Greece they were considered a joke. Not anymore. Golden
Dawn is growing stronger every year."

He adds, "It could come
from the Left or the Right. The Left would repudiate the debts and put
in a more socialist government. The Right would be more socialist and
anti-immigrant."...MORE

Zo, your Hungarian mortgage is denominated in euros at Austria’s Creditanstalt?*
Und your income is in forints?
You can’t work enough hours to cover the debt.
Keep an eye peeled for the Jobbik party goons....

Beat 'em by three days.
Man oh mandingo, if only we cared about anything but the money...
[what? you could do human interest stories? -ed]